Mean-field game analysis of crowd evacuation using the Cristiani-Santo-Menci method.

In this paper, we investigate the crowd evacuation from a room on the basis of the mean field game theory. In particular, effects of the predictability of pedestrians on the evacuation process are considered by applying the Cristiani-Santo-Mensi method as a solver of the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation coupled with the Fokker-Planck equation. Some numerical tests of the crowd evacuation from a room are implemented in order to investigate effects of the predictability, mass diffusion, interactive force and domain, and form of the running cost function on the evacuation process.

Treatment for taxane-resistant cutaneous angiosarcoma: A multicenter study of 50 Japanese cases.

Cutaneous angiosarcoma (CAS) is a rare and highly aggressive type of vascular tumor. Although chemoradiotherapy with taxanes is recognized as a first-line therapy for CAS, second-line therapy for CAS remains controversial. From the above findings, the efficacy and safety profiles of taxane-switch (change paclitaxel to docetaxel or vise), eribulin methylate, and pazopanib regimens in second-line chemotherapy were evaluated retrospectively in 50 Japanese taxane-resistant CAS patients.

Cutaneous angiosarcoma treated with taxane-based chemoradiotherapy: A multicenter study of 90 Japanese cases.

Cutaneous angiosarcoma (CAS) is rare and most previous studies of CAS have been small case series, and randomized, phase II studies of CAS are limited. Since treatment options for CAS are controversial, and because only paclitaxel should be recommended based on high-level evidence, it is important to evaluate the efficacy of another taxane-derived agents, docetaxel, in real-world practice. The efficacy and safety profiles of chemoradiotherapy using taxane-based agents, docetaxel and paclitaxel, were retrospectively examined in the maintenance setting in 90 Japanese CAS patients, including 35 docetaxel-treated cases and 55 paclitaxel-treated cases.

Usefulness of hybrid veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation for lung ischemia-reperfusion injury after biventricular assist device implantation.

We experienced a case of fulminant myocarditis complicated by severe lung ischemia-reperfusion injury after switching from veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation to biventricular assist device. We controlled lung blood flow by hybrid veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, which was established by modifying the biventricular assist device circuit without resternotomy, blood delivery to the pulmonary artery and blood removal from the left ventricle in addition to central veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, and accelerated lung recovery. The patient's lung damage and cardiac function were restored, and she completely recovered and was discharged without any complications.

Central scotoma after indocyanine green assisted fovea-sparing internal limiting membrane peeling.

Purpose: To report a case with myopic traction maculopathy (MTM) that underwent fovea-sparing internal limiting membrane (ILM) peeling and developed a central scotoma with a nasal visual field defect postoperatively.

Observations: A 63-year-old man diagnosed with foveoschisis and a small outer lamellar macular hole underwent 25-gauge, 3-port pars plana vitrectomy and fovea-sparing ILM peeling using indocyanine green (ICG) staining. One year after the vitrectomy, optical coherence tomography (OCT) revealed a resolution of the macular retinoschisis and an intact ellipsoid zone at the fovea.

Illness experience of adults with cervical spinal cord injury in Japan: a qualitative investigation.

Background: There is growing recognition that healthcare policy should be guided by the illness experience from a layperson's or insider's perspective. One such area for exploration would include patient-centered research on traumatic Spinal Cord Injury (SCI), a condition associated with permanent physical disability requiring long-term and often complex health care. The chronicity of SCI can, in turn, affect individuals' sense of self.

Marx line: fluorescein staining line on the inner lid as indicator of meibomian gland function.

Purpose: To determine whether the location of a fluorescein-stained line, the Marx line (ML), which runs along the inner eyelid, is correlated with meibomian gland function.

Design: Prospective observational case series.

Methods: After applying fluorescein dye solution to the eye, the ML score was calculated for the outer, middle, and inner thirds of the lower eyelid margin.

Process formation of the renal glomerular podocyte: is there common molecular machinery for processes of podocytes and neurons?

The renal glomerular podocyte exhibits a highly arborized morphology. In comparison with the neuron, which is the best studied process-bearing cell, the podocyte major processes share many cell biological characteristics with neuronal dendrites. Both podocytes and neurons develop microtubule-based thick processes with branching morphology and both have thin actin-based projections (i.

Isolated plantar dislocation of the middle cuneiform: a case report.

Isolated plantar dislocation of the cuneiform was reported in only two cases in the literature. We report a 57-year-old man with plantar dislocation of the cuneiform when the foot was struck by a large concrete block during construction of a building. Tarsometatarsal injuries are frequently overlooked.

Interferon-gamma, a strong suppressor of cell proliferation, induces upregulation of keratin K6, one of the inflammatory- and proliferation-associated keratins.

Keratin K6 is known as an inflammatory and hyperproliferative keratin, and is induced by an inflammatory and hyperproliferative agent. In this study, we demonstrated that interferon-gamma, an antiproliferative agent, also induces keratin K6. We used normal human ex vivo skin, normal human cultured keratinocytes, HaCaT keratinocytes, and DJM cells to examine the induction of K6 by interferon-gamma, by immunohistochemical staining, Western blot analysis, promoter chloramphenicol acetyl transferase assay, and reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction of mRNA.

Morphogenetic activity of extracellular matrices on cultured podocytes. Laminin accelerates podocyte process formation in vitro.

Morphogenetic effects of various extracellular matrix proteins on the renal podocyte were investigated using the conditionally immortalized podocyte cell line. Podocytes were plated on glass coverslips and coated with the following matrix proteins: laminin-10/11, laminin-1, fibronectin, collagen type IV, collagen type I. Three hours after plating, podocytes on laminins developed prominent processes, while those on other matrix proteins started to elongate processes after two days.

Involvement of Fas in the apoptosis of mouse germ cells induced by experimental cryptorchidism.

The role of Fas in the apoptosis of testicular germ cells was investigated in BALB/c mice and Fas-deficient lpr/lpr mice. Spontaneous apoptosis of germ cells was observed in the testes of 40-day-old BALB/c mice, and experimentally induced cryptorchidism increased this apoptosis to such an extent that there was a decrease in the weight of the testis. Flow cytometry and immunohistochemistry using a Fas-specific monoclonal antibody demonstrated expression of Fas on germ cells including spermatogonia, spermatocytes, and spermatids.

Motor innervation of the guinea pig interarytenoid muscle: reinnervation process following unilateral denervation.

The authors investigated the process of denervation and reinnervation of the interarytenoid (IA) muscle in the guinea pig using transmission electron microscopy and glycogen depletion technique after unilateral transection of the recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) and superior laryngeal nerve to clarify the innervation pattern of the unpaired IA muscle. Anastomosis between the bilateral arytenoid branches was confirmed in the belly of the IA muscle. Five weeks after transection, all of the IA muscle fibers appeared to have been reinnervated by the contralateral RLN.

Merkel cell carcinoma and multiple Bowen's disease: incidental association or possible relationship to inorganic arsenic exposure?

An 81-year-old Japanese male was referred to our clinic in 1991 with multiple Bowen's disease. The associated hyperpigmentation of the trunk and extremities and palmoplantar keratotic nodules indicated that he had suffered from chronic arsenic poisoning. Interestingly, he was a native of Namikata in Ehime, Japan, where many residents have suffered from multiple Bowen's disease with internal malignancy.

Enhanced expression of PP1 gamma 1, a catalytic subunit isoform of protein phosphatase type 1, in invasive ductal carcinoma of the breast.

Breast cancer is one of the most common malignancies of women. Assessing the biological parameters of malignant tumors may facilitate predictions of clinical outcome. The expression of the three catalytic subunits of protein phosphatase (PP) type 1, PP1 alpha, PP1 gamma 1 and PP1 delta, as well as the one catalytic subunit of PP type 2, PP2AC, were examined in ten cases of mammary dysplasia, ten cases of fibroadenoma and 12 cases of invasive ductal carcinoma, using immunohistochemical analysis.

Chemoembolization and percutaneous ethanol injection for intrahepatic recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma after hepatic resection.

Background/aims: Management of 36 patients who developed intrahepatic recurrence (IHR) after curative hepatic resection for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) was studied.

Materials And Methods: IHRs were classified into type I with a solitary lesion (n = 16), type II with 2-4 lesions (n = 11), and type III with > or = 5 lesions (n = 11).

Results: Periodic angiography and Lipiodol CT first detected IHRs in six patients.

Two long-term survivors after microwave coagulation therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma: a case report.

We present two long-term survivors who underwent microwave coagulation therapy (MCT) for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). One patient was a 55-yr-old man having a solitary HCC of 25 mm in diameter associated with advanced liver cirrhosis. He underwent MCT instead of hepatic resection because he developed bleeding tendency during surgery.

Role of protein phosphatase in malignant osteogenic and soft tissue tumors.

The expression of the three catalytic subunits of protein phosphatase (PP) type 1 and 2A, PP1 alpha, PP1 gamma 1, and PP2AC, was examined in osteogenic tumors and soft tissue tumors by immunohistochemical analysis. The percentage of cells stained positively with antiserum against PP1 catalytic subunit isoform PP1 gamma 1, was significantly higher in malignant osteogenic tumors (chondrosarcoma, osteosarcoma, and Ewing's sarcoma) and in malignant soft tissue tumors (liposarcoma and malignant fibrous histiocytoma [M.F.

Duodenum-preserving resection of the head of the pancreas: the significance as a diagnostic therapy of the lesion in the pancreatic head.

A 75-year-old man who was diagnosed as having mucin-producing pancreatic cystic lesion of the main pancreatic duct by duodenoscopic examination was reported. Because of the low malignant potential of such lesions, duodenum-preserving resection of the head of the pancreas was performed, and the intra-operative histological examination showed no malignancy of the resected pancreatic head and no other surgical procedures, such as lymph-adenectomy nor pancreato-duodenectomy were necessary. The significance of this case report lies in that a less invasive operation should be selected at first to diagnose whether the lesion is malignant or not, and also that the selected operation itself must be sufficient to resect an adequate part of the pancreatic tissue involving the cystic lesion, if not malignant.

Three-dimensional architecture of human cutaneous vascular lesions: a scanning electron microscopic study of corrosion casts.

Corrosion casts were made from angiosarcoma of the scalp of an elderly person, Klippel-Trenaunay syndrome, pseudo-Kaposi's sarcoma, diffuse neonatal hemangiomatosis, cavernous hemangioma and arteriovenous malformation and were examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The normal scalp from a cadaver was studied as a control for the angiosarcoma of the scalp. the SEM of the vascular corrosion casts clearly demonstrated the fine three-dimensional (3-D) architectures of malignant and benign cutaneous vascular lesions; the superficial fine and medium-sized vascular networks of the skin were replaced by abnormal balloon-like dilatations, extravasated fringes, glomerular structures, sinusoidal vessels or localized bulla-like structures of the capillary loops, depending on the nature of the cutaneous vascular lesions.

Lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma originating on the eyelid.

An 89-year-old woman presented a rapidly growing red nodule of 5 years' duration on her left eyelid. Histologically, the entire dermis was occupied by multiple lobules of atypical tumor cell nests surrounded by inflammatory cells and fibrous stroma. The tumor cell nests were connected with the overlying epidermis and extended into the subcutaneous fat and muscles.